As shown in FIG. 1, multimedia enthusiasts typically connect a collection of different electronic devices in different boxes together to make a modular entertainment center. Ignoring purely audio equipment, the video aspect of the entertainment center may have a television set (TV) 100 that displays multimedia content drawn in from various sources. Channels available via an “over-the-air” (OTA) transmission source 102 and antenna 104 on the receiving side are usually accessed by a tuner inside the TV 100 itself. Additional channels are available by procuring one or more extra set-top boxes to tune different channel lineups, such as a first set-top box 106 to tune a digital channel lineup received via satellite 108, a second set-top box to tune another digital channel lineup received via cable 112, and perhaps a personal video recorder (PVR) 114 to manipulate digital recordings of the received channels. A PVR 114 may exert local influence over one of the set-top boxes 106. Also, some PVRs 114 may include dual identical tuners (“homogenous tuners”) so that a user can view and record at the same time. A user, then, may have a number of different tuners (“heterogeneous tuners”) in the home, distributed in TVs, VCRs, and other set-top boxes. The various tuners are typically uncoordinated, or coordinated manually by the user through a host of remote controllers 116.
“Access quality” refers to the fidelity (faithfulness to original color, sound, or data); precision; resolution; reliability; speed; capability, etc., with which a tuner can access video, audio, and/or a stream of data distributed with the video and/or audio. Access quality does not include “access quantity,” that is, the number of channels that a tuner can access, i.e., the tuner's bandwidth. In other words, in some circumstances the tuner with the highest access quality may only be capable of accessing the least number of channels of any tuner in a group of multiple tuners. This distinction is described more fully below with respect to some implementations of tuner allocation policy. One policy may try to assign a tuner with high access quality first, and another policy may try to assign a tuner that accesses the least number of channels first, if that tuner can get the job done. The latter policy conserves system resources for potential future demands.
“Homogeneous” as used above means that the tuners are identical in supporting the same channel lineup and accessing the identical lineup with the same access quality. For example, a cable system might use a splitter to form two identical signal sources that can be input into two identical tuners to impart the same capabilities to both tuners.
“Heterogeneous” as used above means that multiple tuners support different channel lineups, or the same channel lineup with different levels of access quality. For example, a household might have both cable 112 and OTA antenna 104 channel sources. The channel lineups available through these two sources are likely very different, thus the tuners are considered heterogeneous.
A “tuner” is a conceptual entity that allows a user to access a channel. TVs usually have one, or sometime two tuners. VCRs usually have one tuner. Some set-top boxes and/or PVRs 114 may have two tuners, as mentioned above. Various removable cards may have one or two tuners. For example, a dual tuner card may have a National Television Standards Committee (NTSC) tuner and an Advanced Television Standards Committee (ATSC) tuner that work dependently or independently of each other.
A “head-end” is the provider of a channel lineup, for example, San Francisco DirecTV; Seattle Comcast Digital Cable; FM Radio, etc. “Transport” is the delivery method for a multimedia signal, e.g., cable, satellite, Internet, OTA, etc. “Format” describes characteristics of the signal, e.g., analog, digital standard definition, digital high-definition, etc.
For electronic program guides (EPGs), an “interlaced” or “interleaved” guide view has multiple guide lineups that are interwoven and sorted in some manner (e.g., by channel number), while a “merged” guide view has multiple lineups that are merged but the same channels are collapsed where they overlap.
A given PVR 114 may enlist a computing device for digital management or the PVR 114 may comprise a computing device. The computing device usually provides the operating system for one or more hard drives and therefore aids primarily in the storage and retrieval of multimedia content that is in the form of stored digital files.
For users with computerized or non-computerized entertainment center platforms, a framework or architecture is needed to support and unify an arbitrary number of homogeneous and heterogeneous tuners. In other words, a framework is needed to seamlessly receive and distribute multiple TV signals in order to unify a user's “multiple-TV/multiple-VCR” experience.